Latest news with #blockages
ABC News
3 days ago
- General
- ABC News
Foul fatbergs on the rise in Perth's sewers as wrong waste flushed
Sewer blockages caused by mounds of grease, oils and wet wipes called fatbergs have exploded in frequency in Perth, as authorities try to stop people putting foreign objects down sinks and toilets. WA's Water Corporation says it responded to 1,329 preventable wastewater blockages in the 2023-24 financial year — a significant increase on previous years. It says most of those issues were caused by fats, oils and grease poured down kitchen sinks. But almost 400 of those blockages were caused by people flushing items like wet wipes, paper towels, cotton buds and sanitary products. Fatbergs are congealed masses of oils, grease and sanitary items that bind together in the sewer system — costing WA taxpayers at least $1 million every year to unclog. "Fatbergs are solid, foul-smelling masses that clog pipes, damage pumps and trigger wastewater spills," Water Minister Don Punch said. "It is a stark and very public reminder of what happens when we do not dispose of waste properly." Water Corp crews need to regularly carry out 'de-ragging' of their wastewater systems, where solid materials like rags and wipes are manually removed from pump stations. "It is dirty, difficult work — entirely avoidable," said Mr Punch. "I thank the people who are involved in that because someone has to do it and it is not the easiest of jobs to do, but they are doing a service to us all." Earlier this year, a massive fatberg forced the cancellation of US singer Bryan Adams's concert at Perth Arena. The blockage could not be cleared before the concert was due to go ahead and the decision was made to cancel it due to the public health risk. In March, the biggest fatberg ever found in WA was hauled from a sewer in Perth's south. It weighed 30 tonnes and took workers two days to carve it up with an excavator. A new coating for pipes being trialled in Melbourne has been shown to reduce the formation of fatbergs by up to 30 per cent. Mr Punch said it was a simple ask — think before you flush. The message from authorities is only three things go in the toilet — "pee, poo and toilet paper". "When it comes to cooking, let fats and oils cool before scraping them into a jar or a bin — do not put them down the sink," he said. "Those small actions make a big difference. It is a shared responsibility."
BBC News
21-06-2025
- Climate
- BBC News
Toy car 'parked illegally' in sewers in Cornwall
A water firm has asked the public to be more careful of what they flush away after a "bizarre collection" of items were found washed down from South West Water (SWW) said they had found various items in the sewers including a toy car in Hayle, a plastic Iron Man model in Penzance and a traffic cone and football in said blockages in pipework caused by inappropriate items caused a variety of problems including Harris, SWW director of waste water operations, said: "We're always working to stay prepared for the unexpected, but when a toy car was parked illegally in a sewer pipe, we knew this wasn't your average day." Mr Harris added: "It's amazing what turns up in our sewers and we really don't know how these mysterious items get there."He said SWW's teams were "constantly battling with culprits like wet wipes, cooking fat and cotton pads"."But sometimes we have a little surprise," added waste water operations manager Jenny said: "Some more recent finds have been a toy car that's blocked the sewer, a football, we've had traffic cones and once upon time we found a toy kids scooter."So yes, we never quite know what we may find when we're doing CCTV and sometimes we can't understand how an item the size that it is has managed to find its way into our sewer."The water firm clears about 8,500 avoidable blockages each year "at a cost of millions", Mr Harris Eamer said: "Sewer pipes can be all sizes, they're not all big sort of London huge ones you can walk down."Be careful about what you're putting down sinks and the toilet. "All we really want are our three Ps, which is pee, paper and poo."
